Banks should put customers first, say funds

Accepting their social responsibilities and acting in the best interests of customers will help to drive bank profitability, some of the country’s biggest superannuation funds argued.

As banks prepare to slash jobs and consider whether to raise key lending rates in response to funding pressures, super schemes told The Australian Financial Review that those banks with the best products and services would be the most successful because they would attract more customers.

Danielle Press, chief executive of Equipsuper, said while the government should not interfere with banks’ interest rate decisions, it was in the banks’ commercial interests to keep customers on side. The stark alternative, she said, is that customers leave.

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“If you don’t have the right policies to treat customers properly, you don’t have a value proposition any more and that is not in the long-term interests of shareholders," she said.

AustralianSuper chief executive
Ian Silk
argued the government had every right to comment on the activities of lenders, because banks were the beneficiary of government guarantees. Like super funds, banks had an obligation to act in the best interests of the broader community as well as shareholders.

“Banks have to balance the interests of various stakeholders," said Mr Silk, who oversees $42 billion of retirement savings on behalf of more than 1.8 million members.